Azur Lane: Land To Sea.

24: Familiar Feeling

A-kun: There will be a 1st person view in this chapter... Well, some of it at least. It will be separated rather than clumping into the 'no POV' dialogue. So no one can get confused. This took days of prep, and thank you very much for understanding. Here we go.

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3 days after the fight... A lone tree standing in its lonesome in the very wide field... It seemed like it stood there for centuries.

Then, a sound was getting closer in the distance.

A sound of a... Engine. A car engine on its way to the lonesome tree.

From the outside looking in, peering into the dark tint of the car's window, a man could be seen. Looking out the window.

A frown plastered over his lips.

Next to him is a girl, very beautiful, a maid. She has been on constant surveillance of this man's doings for a few days now... Very worried about this man's condition. Monitoring him so much that she hasn't got a break since her start.

But the car presses on. Until...

It stopped.

The man came out of the car, and the maid also coming with him. He went to the place he wanted to go to... And just stood there... With the maid just staying behind him with a good bit of distance between the two. He's become distant since the battle and everyone knew it.

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A cold rush of wind passed through me. "This is a really familiar feeling..." I said looking down. Taking a deep breath.

Before I could utter another word, the cold breeze of the lush, green plains went through me. I shuddered, I looked up in the clear skies. Seeing the sun in all it's fiery glory. Then 2 white birds just breezed past me as they seem they were migrating. They were flying straight to the skies... Going towards the heavens.

But the sun was getting too bright so I looked back down.

The cold winds here seemed never-ending. I look to my right, nothing but green in my sight. The wide array of flowers coloring the field like a painter on his masterpiece was really relaxing to see. The petals flowing with the wind, and the ocean blue just over the stiff cliffside where the waves of the waters would splash up to make a pillar of some sort.

It was pure beauty in nature as any landscape I've never seen.

But it was distracting me... From my real emotions.

"Victory... It is not 'victory'. There is no such word as 'victory'... It's a loose word to define nowadays." I slowly nodded. Like I was agreeing on my own statement.

"Victory isn't without losses. And I have stopped believing in a 'flawless' victory long, long time ago." I looked back down on the ground.

"Maybe I'm being hypocritical. In my long journey, I have seen and won some battles with minimal casualty or no casualties at all. But like my fellow brothers and soldiers... These are girls. Humans. Not just weapons of war. Nor they will have to be like that for the rest of their lives."

"Maybe they are actually created for that reason. But they're still human. And life, as a human, can be obtained without fighting for it. And a life they will experience is what I want."

My eyes... Were... Tearing up?

"But... I feel... I feel like," as I was suddenly sobbing. "I just... stripped that away from them."

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Right after the long skirmish with the Sirens had ended..."Guys... I have news... To tell you all..."